This invention relates to a conversion attachment for a wet-dry vacuum cleaner.
It is already known to provide a so-called wet-dry vacuum cleaner for floors and fabrics, such as carpets and upholstery. Such vacuum cleaners include a large portable recovery tank having a vacuum pump and a vacuum head connected via a wand and hose to the tank for sucking wet and/or dry material from the surface being cleaned into the tank. Such devices also may be provided with a spray nozzle in the cleaning head for dispensing pressurized water from a faucet or the like onto the surface to be cleaned. U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,913 shows such a cleaning device and additionally discloses that the air discharge outlet of the tank may be connected through a hose to a separate detergent dispenser which may be used to apply detergent to the surface to be cleaned prior to the water dispensing and vacuuming operation.
It is desirable to dispense both detergent and water onto the surface simultaneously to thereby reduce the total cleaning time. The device of the said U.S. Patent could be used in this manner, but it would require the manipulation of both the vacuum head and the separate detergent dispenser at the same time, a rather cumbersome and almost impossible procedure for one person. Additionally, if both devices were operated simultaneously in the said U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,913, an undesirable vacuum pressure drop would occur.
Devices are already known which are specifically made to dispense water and detergent together, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,527. However, to have the advantages of such devices as well as those of a wet-dry vacuum cleaner would require the purchase of both types of machines, which would be uneconomical.
Furthermore, it is also known, as in the aforementioned Pat. No. 3,939,527, to use a siphoning device to dispense detergent into a flowing stream of water for mixing therewith and application to the surface to be cleaned. However, many such siphoning devices are relatively complex and expensive and rely for their operation on spring biased ball valves and the like.
It is a task of the present invention to provide a wet-dry vacuum cleaner that has the capability of automatically dispensing a mixture of liquid detergent and water simultaneously with the vacuum pick-up for faster and more efficient cleaning of floors and fabrics.
It is a further task of the invention to provide a conversion attachment or kit which is easily connectable to the presently known wet-dry vacuum cleaners.
It is yet another task of the invention to provide one form of conversion attachment wherein a substitute cleaning head is provided which not only provides the usual vacuum pickup function of a wet-dry vacuum cleaner, but which also provides for dispensing a continuous stream of mixed water and detergent onto the area to be cleaned.
It is still another task of the invention to provide another form of conversion attachment wherein the existing vacuum pickup cleaning head of a wet-dry vacuum is utilized instead of a substitute.
It is a further task of the invention to provide a liquid flow control device as part of either form of the conversion attachment for use in selectively supplying liquid for cleaning, the device being of an improved simplified design.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, in one form of attachment both the original wand and cleaning head of the wet-dry vacuum cleaner are replaced with a substitute wand and head. A supply and connector assembly is provided which includes a short tubular connecting member. One end of the member is connectable to the upper end of the substitute wand which leads to the substitute cleaning head which includes a vacuum nozzle and a liquid discharge means such as a spray nozzle. The other end of the member is connectable to the hose of the wet-dry vacuum unit. The connecting member forms a part of the suction line of the wet-dry vacuum cleaner and provides for the support of the assembly.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, in another form of attachment, the existing wand and cleaning head are not replaced so that the original suction line is unchanged. In this instance, the liquid discharge means is removably attached to the existing cleaning head and the supply and connector assembly is removably attached to the suction line.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the supply and connector assembly mounts a removable detergent container and a siphon which is connectable between a source of water, such as a water faucet, and the liquid discharge means of the cleaning head. A detergent supply tube connects between the container and the siphon. The siphon is part of a control comprising a single slideable tubular valve member controlled by a manually actuatable trigger or handle. The slideable tubular member is disposed in an elongated housing or valve body having spaced side inlet ports connectable to the faucet and the detergent container, respectively, and having an outlet passage connected to the liquid discharge means of the cleaning head. The side wall of the slideable tubular member has an opening and its inner end has a restricted passage forming a throat.
When the slideable tubular member is retracted to place its interior in communication with the pressurized water supply, its throat is disposed adjacent the inlet port from the detergent container and in spaced relation from the outlet passage of the valve body to form a metering chamber. Pressurized water flows from the faucet through the restricted throat and the metering chamber and then through the outlet passage. Detergent is siphoned from the container into the metering chamber where it mixes with the flowing water.
An aspect of the invention contemplates that when the slideable tubular valve member is extended, both inlets from the faucet and detergent are blocked and the metering chamber is eliminated so that flow of all liquid to the cleaning head is blocked.